How to network online as a freelancer

Networking is an essential part of freelance life, both to keep yourself known that you’re looking for work, but also for meeting other freelancers to swap ideas, tips, potential work and even to have the occasional grumble with. Freelancing can be a lonely experience! Even if you’re based outside of  a city  (London, for example) where lots of … Read more

Balancing the Positivity Around Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a well-known concept for most people, thanks to sites such as Kickstarter. Headlines of consumer products, such as the Pebble, to films, apps and games getting funded – with no apparent downsides – are everywhere. So when I was asked to write a piece on the "negative" side of crowdfunding, which would be … Read more

Economy, Effectiveness, Efficiency: How councils can measure the success of social media

(This is a full version of an article I wrote for The Guardian’s Local Leaders Network on how councils can measure the success of social media. You can read the edited version on the Guardian’s site.) According to the 2013 BDO Local Government Social Media Survey, 98% of UK councils are using some form of digital or … Read more

Digital innovation in local government around the world

(This is a full version of an article I wrote for The Guardian’s Local Leaders Network on digital innovation in local government. You can read the edited version on the Guardian’s site.) When working in digital innovation and local government, it’s helpful to stick your head above the parapet and see what others are up to. There is … Read more

Online Privacy Issues Need to be Easier to Understand

Online privacy issues are currently difficult to understand. Amid media headlines about NSA, Prism and Snowden, terms such as encryption, Tor and HTTPS are used extensively with the average person expected to keep up  with what they mean and understand how the issues affect them. For people who aren’t technically adept, the message about why online … Read more

What should a 2013 not-for-profit look like?

The good people behind OpenTech 2013 posed a great question as one of their potential sessions for the event happening on 18th May in London: What should a 2013 not-for-profit look like? It caught my eye a few weeks ago and I’ve been pondering it ever since, not only because I’ve had experience in starting … Read more